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2006 Hopkins Charter Commission Annual ReportHopkins Charter Commission Annual Report 2006 The Hopkins Charter Commission met three times in 2006: March 28, April 25, and June 6. On March 28 the Commission chose Roger Gross to be Chair and Emily Wallace-Jackson to be Vice-Chair. The Commission continued to work on changing the manner in which the Mayor and Council Members are elected. In 2004, the City Council, on the recommendation of the Charter Commission, established an Alternative Voting Task Force to "obtain, study and evaluate data on alternative voting methods for use in Hopkins." The Task Force submitted its report to the Charter Commission in 2005. The Task Force recommended that the Charter Commission consider adopting Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). This method of voting requires that winning candidates have a majority of the votes. The Commission, in 2005, recommended that the Hopkins City Council adopt an Ordinance amending the City Charter that would allow for ranked ballot voting. The Hopkins City Council considered this Ordinance, number 2005-958, during January and February of 2006. The Council determined that there were problems with the method that the ordinance established for electing Council Members. The City Council, therefore, on March 6, voted to reject the Ordinance. The Commission worked on redrafting the ordinance during the first part of 2006. The Commission made several changes to the proposed method of electing Council Members. At the June 6 meeting, the Commission unanimously adopted a motion to present the draft ordinance to the City Council at the next available Worksession, with the understanding that if the Council finds no significant issues with the ordinance, the Charter Commission would reconvene to adopt a resolution recommending the adoption of an ordinance that would amend the City Charter to allow Ranked Ballot Voting. The revised method of ranked ballot voting was presented to the Hopkins City Council on August 22. At that meeting the Council indicated general approval of the new method and requested that the Commission undertake an education campaign regarding ranked ballot voting prior to bringing an ordinance before the City Council that would amend the Charter.